What is an un/managed DLL? What is un/managed code?

Question

Could someone please explain to me what an un/managed DLL is? And what is un/managed code?

score 10 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 28 '10 at 15:51

Unmanged code will be compiled to machine language to run directly on the hardware.

Managed code will be compiled to a virtual machine called CLR (Common Language Runtime), and compiled to machine language on start by the JIT (Just in time compiler). THE CLR can be compared to the java virtual machine, it is the same concept.

score 8 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 28 '10 at 15:38

8

Short answer: Code compiled without .NET framework (plain old DLL).

answered Sep 28 '10 at 15:38

Pablo Santa Cruz

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score 8 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 24 '16 at 15:49

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You will get a fair idea on managed and unmanaged code in following article -

http://www.developer.com/net/cplus/article.php/2197621/Managed-Unmanaged-Native-What-Kind-of-Code-Is-This.htm

edited Jun 24 '16 at 15:49

Reuel Ribeiro

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answered Sep 28 '10 at 15:38

Sachin Shanbhag

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Link is no longer valid. – Ciaran Gallagher Jul 10 '14 at 21:26
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@CiaranGallagher I fixed it – Reuel Ribeiro Jun 24 '16 at 15:10
Very good article! – Reuel Ribeiro Jan 05 '19 at 16:33

score 5 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 28 '10 at 15:43

When you code with .net you get some memory management, garbage collection etc, so it is called managed code. Older versions are unmanaged (for the memory is managed by the programmer)

And to keep things easy, calling from managed code to unmanaged code can be a trye pain.

What is an un/managed DLL? What is un/managed code?

4 Answers4

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